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I would think that some variant of the "Just in Time" teaching scheme might be useful here. In this case, they need to complete a reading assignment and a short quiz on it on line, which must be submitted by some specified time before the class (Lab?) starts. If they fail to submit the lab quiz, they are not admitted to the lab (how they make up the lab--or not--is a matter for individual preference, or time available). It becomes quickly obvious that if they expect to pass the course, they'd better do the reading. Then you look at their quiz results and get an idea of where their heads are, and construct your class or lab accordingly.
You can't do this if students refuse to do anything outside of class,
because in-class time is way too short for accomplishing the goals of
the course. It goes back to something I've said before: I expect
students to read assignments outside of class. I expect students to do
experiments outside of class. I expect students to write outside of
class. I expect students to solve problems outside of class. I expect
students to come to office hours if they have questions. But today's
students think I am totally unreasonable. If I can't teach them what
they need to know about physics within the contraints of five 50-minute
class periods a week for 30 weeks, then I must be a lousy teacher. They
don't have any more time to spend on physics than class time. Since
they have become accustomed to teachers that don't demand out-of-class
work, they can't read, they can't write, they can't solve problems...
because they don't have any practice doing these things. And they fill
their out-of-class hours with sports, TV, socializing, etc. and think it
is an unreasonable intrusion if I want them to spend some of that time
doing physics.